Apparatus for producing tomato products



Jam. 29, 1935. o. GILLIATTT 1,989,231

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING TOMATO PRODUCTS Filed Oct. 1.7, 1930 67 73 23 II 5 w 7 r 125' V 44 k f 4,5 m I v v 33 l oj (349* I w I INVENTOR. 044/5)ufifl' Z6 Z7 35 BY ATTORNEYJ.

Patented Jan. 29, 1935 v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FORPRODUCING TOMATO PRODUCTS I Ollie Gilliatt, Washington, Ind., assignorto Vincennes Packing Corporation, Vincennes, Ind.

Application October17, 1939, serial No. 489,332 2 Claims. (01.100-48)This invention relates to the method of and apthe line, the large ripole tomatoes a e reparatus for preparing tomat products a moved from thebelt conveyor 11 at the station The chief object of this invention is toobtain 12 and supplied to the 011385 Conveyor, Which a selected highquality juice from ripe tomatoes ieflrries them to the canning a Wherethe 6 and which will not include the bitter constituen l ge ripe wholetomatoes are canned, the e to befound in the core thereof. iv ng aselected canned p uct- Another object of the invention isto econom- Thesmaller ripe to d pa s of p ically utilize all tomatoes that aresuitable or tomatoes which are not selected for canning e canningpurposes and in a nn r hi h 111 carried on down with the belt and if nototherwise best utilize the a i types of t t for t removed therefrom aredischarged into the chute 10 different tomato products. These tomatoprodv a then p t receiver 14 and are ucts are: canned tomatoes, tomatocatsup, chili charged by gravity through t nd 5 t0 sauce, puree, sauce,and tomato juice. a cyclone pulper 16. The product from the The chiefobject of the invention is accomp p is handled in the usual manner for15 plished by apparatus which will handle ripe t ing tomato puree orsauce for canning beans and 15 matoes in a certain way, such that but apart of Spaghetti and the likethe tomato is utilized for obtaining thejuice In F 1 w conveyors 11 a illustrated and therefrom and theremainder of the tomato is the d a s 3 th fr m a ea h dis ar d furtherutilized for other products. into the receiver 14, and mounted thereinis a The full nature of the invention will be under- Screw v yor 17,which discharges t mate- 20 stood from the accompanying drawing and therial supply to the receiver 14'to the gravity confollowing descriptionof claims: veying conduit 15 and in' connection with the In the drawingFig. 1 is a diagrammatic top cyclone pulper; Intermediate between thetwo plan view of a portion of a tomato products proassorting and peelinglines 11 is an apparatus ducing plant embodying the invention. indicatedgenerally by the numeral'18, which has 25 Fig. 2 is an enlarged centralsectional view a conduit discharge 19 and a larger discharge through theapparatus which utilizes but. a part 20, the latter of which alsodischarges into the of the tomato, the remainder being otherwisereceiver 14, so that the pulp body that passes utilized. I through thepassage 20 is discharged into the 80 Fig. 3 is a top plan view of thesame apparatus receiver 14. The material received by the apand is takenapproximately in the plane of line paratus 18 consists of the small ripetomatoes, 3-3 in Fig. 2. i and these are taken off at the peeling andassort- Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the apparatus ing line at thestation 21. shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The reason that the small ripetomatoes are 85 Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view through a utilizedis because the larger whole tomatoes portion of the strainer. have beenremoved for canning, and the parts In the conventional tomato productsplant of tomatoes have a broken core or a cut core there is provided aloading platform 10 and near and the tearing, crushing or otherwisemutilatby some peeling and assorting lines 11. Leading ing of this corewill free a bitter constituent that 0 from each asserting line there isan elongated will impart a bitter taste to the raw tomato 40 beltconveyor 12. Each conveyor 12-leads to the juice. The little whole ripetomatoes therefore tomato canning apparatus. Between the loadhave aprotected core and are therefore selected, ing platform 10 and theasserting line 11 there is removed from the belt 11 and are supplied toap-' usually provided, although the same has been paratus 18 and theyare so treated in this apomitted herein for brevity, an asserting pit orparatus before a part of the juice is removed 45 vat that receives thetomatoes from the farmer therefrom and in'such a manner that the core orproducer and the unripe tomatoes are reis not disturbed, so that thebitter constituent turned to the farmer, likewise all tomatoes uhof thecore does not enter into any of the Juice suitable for processing arealso returned. The separated by the separator apparatus. The pulp,

59 suitable tomatoes are then treated to permit the including the coreand body of the tomato, is ready removal of the skins, and they passdown discharged from the apparatus through the conalongthe line 11,where the peelers and inspecduit or passage 20 as before mentioned andtors out out various portions of the ripe tomato further utilized insauce and puree. The conand remove the skins therefrom. As the belt duit19 is the discharge line from the apparaconveyor moves from the loadingplatform down tus for the pure, raw tomato juice, and this conduit maysupply the same to suitable apparatus for bottling or for packaging thesame, for example, bottling or canning, as found desirable in the trade.

The purpose of this apparatus, as before mentioned, is torproduce a puretomato juice which will be sweet and not bitter, and therefore palatablein itself. vTomato juice in the past few years has had an enormousdemand created for it. It contains many valuable vitamines and thereforeis a recognized constituent in infant diet. It has also a particularafllnity for alcohol, so that drug stores and restaurants within thepast year have been selling enormous quantities of tomato juice toadults for this purpose, in addition to the desire of the purchaser toacquire the vitamines. Inasmuch as this juice is taken internally in itsraw state, the matter. of

taste or rather bitterness is extremely as will be readily apparent.

Apparatus suitable for effecting the aforesaid selective and highlydesirable separation is illustrated in detail in Figs. 2, 3 and 4.J Inthese figures there is illustrated'a hopper-likemouth 22 and a verticalpassage 23 supplied thereby. Longitudinally mounted in the passage 23are the deflectors 24, which serve to direct the tomatoes supplied tothe hopper toward the center of the passage. vRotatably mounted in saidpassage, side by side, are a pair of tearing and disintegrating rolls inthe form of cylinders 25 and 26. These cylinders are in spaced relationto each other and rotate oppositely and towards each other. Each roll isprovided with a plurality of pins or round teeth 27. As shown in Fig. 3these teeth on each roll are arranged in parallel planes and the planesof the teeth on important,

. opposite rolls are alternate, so that the pins or teeth do not engageeach other. The tomatoes supplied to the hopper fall upon. the surface.of the top portion of each of the rolls and are conveyed towards" thecenter and are partially crushed and drawn apart. The construction issuch that these rolls and pins donot tear or crush the core of thetomato, so that the bitter constituent therein is not exposed nor discharged into the juice but carries over with the core. Beneath thepassage 23 and leadingfrom beneath the rolls is a chute 28 thatdischarges into the mouth 29 of a horizontally arranged self-cleaningstrainer.

The strainer consists in an elongated tube peripherally slotted andenclosed by a casing which collects the juice discharged therefrom.Mounted in the strainer is a helicoid conveyor and cleaner 30. The endof the strainer is closed as at 31 but is apertured to receive arotating shaft 32, operatively associated with the helicoid for rotatingthe same. These straining slots each are elongated and V-shaped incrossesection and are arranged side by side in both peripheral andlongitudinal spaced relation, the longitudinal spacing between adjacentslots being less than the peripheral spacing between adjacent slots, forstructural strength. Each slot has an inner width of about four onethousandths'of an inch and the projected vertex thereof is positionedwithin the elongated. tubular strainer. These slots will beself-freeing, in that anything that passes through will continue andwill pass out from -the slots. The helicoid is so constructed that inits rotation it presses the crushed tomatoes toward the center of thestrainer and discharges the pomace or body through the discharge end ofthe strainer.

The discharge end of the strainer includes a plate 33, which is suitablyapertured as at 34 to receive the anchoring bolts 35. P1ate'33 includesa plurality of spaced openings 36 therein and said plate also includes abearing 37 for the other end of the helicoid shaft. The helicoidtherefore is supported in spaced relation within the strainer so that itwill just clear the same and by reason of this arrangement the helicoiddoes not force any pulp or pomacethrough the'openings 133 in thestrainer., As shown in Fig. 3 the openings are arranged in rows butterminate short of the- 1 discharge end, as indicated by the lastopenings 38.

The purpose of having the strainer solid or substantially imperforate atthis end is that the pomace accumulates'at this end and would be forcedthrough the openings 133, instead of the openings 36. The helicoid notonly draws the pomace to the center of the strainer chamber but alsofeeds it forwardly to the discharge end and through the dischargeopenings 36.

What might be called the regulation of the back pressure or dischargeresistance is obtained by the addition of a plate 40 having a likenumber of openings 41 for registration with the openings 36. -Theclosure 33 has aseat 42 which rotatably supports plate 40. 'An anchoringring 44 retains this plate against axial displacement and the bolts 45secure this retaining ring 44 to the closure plate 33. To regulate theso-called back pressure of resistance to discharge, and this it may beobserved regulates the proportion of juice that is extracted from thecrushed material, the arouate slot.48 is provided in plate 40 and theclamping stud 49 is associated therewith and is carried by thestationary closure plate -33, and through this construction thepercentage of full registration of the openings 36 and 41is adjusted andmaintained.

The casing surrounding the straining cylinder is in two parts. The upperhalf 51"is removable and the lower'half is rigidly mounted and isinclined downwardly toward the outlet 19.

Any suitable framework or mounting may be utilized for the mechanismbefore described.=

Suitable power mechanism is also arranged therewith. Herein power isshown obtained from a power chain 60, which meshes with a sprocket. gear61 carried by shaft 62. Shaft 62 mounts intermediate its ends, a bevelgear 63 which meshes with a beveled pinion 64 which is-rigid with thehelicoid shaft. The helicoid shaft preferably has a detachablenon-rotatable connection 65 therewith so that when the discharge endplate 33 is removed by removing nuts 135 fromthe rods 35 mounted in theears 130 of the plate 33 said plate and the shaft may be readily removedfor cleaning the same and for cleaning the interior of the strainingcylinder.

Shaft 62 is extended as at 66 and a sprocket gear 67 drives achain 68which drives another sprocket gear 69 carried by the shaft '70. Shaft 70is the shaft which mounts the smaller crushing cylinder 25. It alsomounts a spur gear-71 and meshing therewith .is a larger spur gear 72-carried by shaft 73, which supports the larger crushing cylinder; Theratio of the gearing is about 3 to 1 and is suitably timed and, aswillbe observed from the foregoing, the rotation of the helicoid and therotation of the cylinders arelikewise timed. V

The invention claimed is: l

1. In a juice and pomace separator, the combination of a pair of ends, acylindrical strainer associated with said ends, a shaft supportedcoaxially therein by. said ends, a helicoid carried by said shaft, oneof said ends havinga central aperture, a driving bearing rotatablysupported in the central aperture and detachably associated with theshaft within the strainer for freeing type and having a plurality ofelongated, V-shaped in cross section, slots therein, said slots being.arranged side by side longitudinally of the strainer and also arrangedin spaced peripheral series, the projected vertex of each slot being.

positioned within the interior of the strainer and the spacing betweenthe slots of the same longitudinal series being appreciably less thanthe spacing between a peripheral series of slots.

2. In a juice and pomace separator, the combination with ahelicoidcompactor and conveyor, of an elongated substantiallycylindrical straining chamber at one end of which crushed and tomtomatoes are directly supplied for compaction and advance by thehelicoid compactor and conveyor, the helicoid having its free edgeterminating immediately adjacent the inner surface of said cylindricalchamber, means for rotating said helicoid to secure the advance ofpomace therethrough, said helicoid in its rotation drawing the pomacefrom the chamber wall toward the center of the helicoid, a restrictiveclosure for the discharge end of the chamber consisting of a platehaving a plurality of apertures therein in spaced relation, anotherplate in juxtaposition thereto and similarly apertured,

and means for securing said plates together in juxtaposition forregulating'the amount of restriction in the chamber discharge, saidcylindrical straining chamber being of the self freeing type and havinga plurality of elongated V-shaped in cross section, slots therein, saidslots being arranged side by side longitudinally of the strainer andalso arranged in spaced peripheral series, the projected vertex of eachslot being positioned within the interior of the strainer and thespacing between the slots of the same longitudinal series beingappreciably less than the spacing between a peripheral series of slots.

' 'OLLIE GIILIA'I'I'.

